Iron County register., 1887-04-21
Old Times in IllInOIs-Buck-Ague
Changes.

Old Times in IllInOIs-Buck-Ague
Changes.
1t is now forty-six years since m,
father brought me, when little boy
to this county, and reading ''T. P. R.'s'
last letter in the REGISTR, so revived
nv recollections of Old times here, thai
as soon as I had finished its perusal,
handed the paper to my boys to read i
also; for they have a breech-loadins
gun, and are chock full of the hunter
spirit, as most boys are. I was tutored
too, by old hunters, with fint-locks
but should prefer the latest rifle, al
you only have to move the left hane
forward and back to reload, until you
have fired thirty or forty times, with
out taking the gun from the shoulder
Neither is there any snap; for if you
miss-fire there is not as much noise as
there was when the flint struck the
fire-plate or '4frizzen" of the old flint
lock.
Those who professed to have Travelled
in those days, claimed that in this
country before the winter of the deep
snow, game was even thicker than III
Kentucky when Boone first went there
was surveying to-day and pointed
out places where l had seen deer in
droves less than forty years ago; but
the old settlers said it was scarce COM
pared with the times before '31 and '32
and wolves were thinned out more
than anything else by that snap.
Among our neighbors was one-the
nearest-who claimed, when boy, to
have been with Boone, and most OF
them were from Kentucky and Ten
nessee. The rifle, of course, was their
gun; but among the earliest settlers
were also some English who used shot
guns, with buckshot for large game,
and who would laugh at man who
fired at game not running or flying.
These men were fond of horses, too,
and rode as reckless as cowboys, SO
that game soon became harder to find
than to kill when flushed. The natives
would not eat rabbits and the English
would not eat squirrels; hut as they
lived on friendly terms both would
partake of either in a few years.
Distilleries were here, too-three OF
them within five miles, on line near
ly due west from where am writing
and to these places many went to spend
time. My father, however, would not
let me go to them, nor would he send
me on an errand there. for there was so
much swearing and fighting about
them almost every day. We had
Methodises," and Baptises," and
"Camelites', " and if you did not be-
long to our church. you were "hell
bent and hell bound," so they would
sometimes fight about that. Not one
man in hundred could have told you
the difference between the unearned
increment and side of sole leather,
but they would even fight about poll
tics; and the first attempt to hold an
election in these parts ended in a rough
and-tumble.
We had whiskey for hog-killings,
house-raisiDgs, harvesting and BUSH
cuttings; then a supply was kept for
family use. You did not have to slath-
er away much money for it either, for
it ranged from fifteen to twenty-five
cents a gallon-none Of your factory
rotgut, but "rale jinnywine corn-juice." !"
All the careful native gunners car
ried tow and wiping stick, aud wiped
the rifle after every shot, if not requir-
ed to haste. Some would pour little
powder in one hand on a windy day,
spit on it till they had made thin
black paste and then rub on the face
around the "shootin' eye" to keep it
from watering. / did not like to meet
man in the woods in this plight, for
/ could see big ugly Indians In war
paint and hear them whoop in my
dreams that night. My father used to
put me on sack of corn thrown on
an old Kits back and take me to a
horse mill where the customers tolied
their own corn. They would join teams,
put the boys on the sweeps 10 drive,
while the men stood round the fire oi
logs on the lee side of the mill and told
yarns. We sometimes had to wait ouI
turn all day, grind out after dark, and
then go home often through SHOW
storm, and cold; but / heard SO much
on these occasions that used to dread
"painter" jumping down upon me
from the trees We rode under. i car
re member, too, that man almost took
his life in his hands if he said slavery
was morally wrong. Indeed, it was
something against man to be sus.
pected of being .'black abolitioner."
Now, not all the people were drunk
ards or unreasonable in religion or pol.
itics, but 1 am only speaking of the
average man of those days. You need
not have been afraid of insulting him
him by offering him whisky, aud could